Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

Very easy

I have modified my BD-2 with the TS-9 emulation kit from www.monteallums.com, so I am really only commenting on this mod. The pedal was, eh, OK and all, before the mod. After - it screams, sings. You can feel it in the floor. Takes on the characteristics of both the BD-2 and TS-9, can be high gain, thick, or nearly transparent. I like it just a bit better than the TS-9 sound on its own...

I use this pedal with an SG Special / Gibson Blueshawk -> Maxon Comp. -> MXR Blue Box -> BD-2 modded -> DOD Corrosion -> DeArmond Weeper -> Boss CE-20 -> Marshall Vibra/Trem -> Arion SFL-1 -> Boss DD-20 -> Carvin 2x12 tube amp - for anyone interested in that crap.

Has been very reliable.

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Overall, the mod kit has made this a sick pedal. It's my main tool for leads now, or to get any kind of sound that really cuts through the mix. Plus its kinda fun to take the thing apart and start soldering! I love it.

Easy to use, easy to find a sound, but surely not a good sound.
Clear manual.

Used on fender, peavey, laney, marshall and crate amp.
Very poor sound, horrible on boost of a dist.

Solid and good for any type of use, also like ornament.

Never dealt with Boss but never find a satisfied boss-user in chase of assistence requiring.

I'll never buy another boss effect of this type, if you think bd-2 gives blues sound you're mistaking.

3 Knobs easy. takes tweaking but so does everything

well i have used this pedal on many different setups and it just doesnt work with tube amps. for brittle solid state amps this is a godsent because it ads that missing warmth however those amps dont seem to be around anymore so now the thing is just overkill.

On a tube amp or good solidstate amp this pedal is overly trebly. I used it as my main source of dirt but unless the tone knod was all the way down it just peirced peoples ears. I found that it does have more range of overdrive than a TS9 but that the TS 808 sounds far better. However when i bought this the only TS808's available were vintage and incredably exspensive. this pedal's main good function is that ist can act as a subtle overdrive or monster distortion pedal. For me this pedal just misses what i'm looking for but it has served me well for the last 4 years of constant tweaking. On the Plus side audiences always compliment my guitar tone when I use this pedal so maybe I'm being to picky.

Only problem in the 4 years i've owned it is the fact that i cant seem to dial in the sound i'm looking for. Boss has made a very sturdy pedal that can stand up to abuse.

I play mostly Rock Blues Ska Regae Funk Fusion and Jazz with a little bit of everything else mixed in.
this pedal is great. and I would recomend it to anyone looking for a good overdrive. If I lost it or it was stolen I would probably get another just because I know what it can do and it is very very very very
close to what i want but just not quite. I've been playing since i was 9 (i'm 18) so I think that i'm just being overly picky.

Three knobs - no challenge I guess. Gain is the most important: with a little twisting you can get all the sweet different sounds out it. Adjust it with level to your setup. Only tone didnt have the impact other pedals have. So easy to use!

Used a Epiphone and a Fender ROC PRO with a variety of mod effects. NO noise whatsoever. From light crunch sounds to full overdrive everythings possible. Thats what I loved about this one. If you dont play metal you can do everything with that tiny tool! And they all sound great. However: I changed to a Deucetone Rat because I wanted to be able to change distortion within a song. I would by two or three of the BD2s but this would be two expensive. BUT I'll have later on in addition to my RAT if I can afford it. This pedal's sounds rule!

Build to last. CAN it even by destroyed?...

didnt need no CS.

My style and my band's style arent said in one or two words. We do pretty much everything from quite soft to hard stuff, esp. the last one though. Could use it for everything. For gigs I would need at least two of those though cuz I wanna be able to change drive within a song and Im not the guitar level twister kinda player... That is the ONLY reason I changed to a deucetone rat, which gives me more options.

BD-2 is the simplest you can get. Level Tone and Gain.

I use it with my Epiphone Les Paul Birdseye, in a Fender Rock Pro 1000 with one extra 12 cabinet.
The sound is really great (for me). if you are looking for a bluesy, kind of sound it is great, but if you want something harder, well it does the trick (gust set the gain up).
I Use it like a booster (with high level mid tone and low gain), for the normal and gain channels, and the pedal increases the range of the picking sensibility of your guitar. While testing it I did it with a american telecaster (the real one) but it sounded better on my Epi. I Really don't care for brands but The boss BD-2 its the real sound for all the real old bluesy lovers. It can sounds sweet and hard at the same settings. I Really Love It.

It doesn't have much use but it looks like a very robust constrution, and of course you have the 5 year warranty from boss.
You can really gig with it but I sugest you to use it with a Power Suply (ok it's obvious) when you play live (you never now when the battery if goig death on you, and that is the only problem with this pedal)

Never used it.

My thing is rock, as simple as that, and BD-2 is a great tool for that, and if i lost it i would by another one.
I love the increase in the picking sensibility and the range of expression I can get using it and using it in the bridge gives you that old time radio bluesy sound, while using it with the neck gives you great body and solid bass sound.

Easy if you use the neck pickup, as this device does not like bridge pickup. It is modeled after the traditional overdriven guitar sound used to get the sweet "woman tone" found in british blues/hard rock. i.e. neck pick up, tone control at 0 to 2.

Just set the tone to 0 to 2 and add the drive until you get the tone desired. Same with level

I took a chance on thise device when reading how someone got a sweet "woman tone" overdrive sound from a jazz guitar. Well. I got the same sound from my Gretch "rockabilly" guitar. The drive is at 6, tone is at 2. Once again, use the neck pickup. It hates the bridge pickup, it sounds to brittle.

Furthermore, it does not like single 10" or 8" speakers (too brittle/tinny) - Use a 4 x 10, or 2 x 12 amp. It got great tone from a 2 x 12 solid state no name amp.

As well, I was able to get a good overdrive tone from my Gibson melody maker bass with a strat type single coil at the neck. Once again, use the neck pickup (tone at 2, drive at 4)

Boss is known for their reliability

Boss customer support must be like the Maytag repairmen commercial i.e. the loneliest people on earth

If you want to get the sweet overdriven "woman tone" found in british blues/hard rock, this is the pedal for you. It is much cheaper than an Ibanez tubescreamer.

Very easy - Gain, tone, level - like you know it from Boss Super Overdrive or Ibanez Tube Screamer Pedals.

There is a manual when you buy it new in the box. The typical standard settings for starting with - when you are new in using guitar pedals.

There is always music equipment that - because of what you hear and read - is VERY, VERY MUCH OVERATED. And the Boss Blues Driver is on of it.

It is so much overrated, I tried and tried, but it can`t satisfy me.

Boss picked up a good image and design (the blue colour for blues...) to offer an alternative to their yellow overdrive-line.

It's like the Boss Super-Overdrive (the standard and cheapest Boss overdrive Pedal) with more bass, but less mids and a bit more gain. Because it has more mids the Super-Overdrive got even more character in the tone - and character that was what I was looking for in a "Blues pedal". Here the Blues Driver sucks compared with the old Super-Overdrive.

And to become the leader in Blues Pedals it must be compared with the Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-9. And the Tube Screamer has the overall much butter tone. The highs are much milder and smooth, the mids are a dream and the lack of bass in the TS-9 is no reason for me to swith to the Blues-Driver.

The Boss Blues-Driver is good for me for 70s Rock (Smoke on the water etc.) Riffs and Solos, but even there the cheaper Super-Overdrive sounds much better and more autentic to me.

There are sure a lot of players out there who like the blues driver ... but I`ve never heard one of them getting a brilliant sound out of it.

I will keep mine for reference use - but I am back to play with my SD-1 and TS-9 and the Proco RAT for the heavy stuff.

I have it for one year now - and its like new - well because I dislike it - I only use it a little bit at home to compare other pedals I test - but its very, very likely to be as reliable as the other boss pedals, and they live forever, if you take good care of them ....

Never tried to have a Boss Pedal repaired. When one got damaged - yes that happens - I get a new one and replace the full pedal. Working hours are so expensive - for me it makes no sence to bring a Boss pedal to a store to have it fixed.

I play Rock from 70s Rock to 80s Metal. I play since the 70s - well the later 70s.

Usually I play with a Strat or a Les Paul in a Marshall 45 Watts Head and a 1x12 (small Bars etc.) or a 4x12 Marshall (clubs, festivals etc.) Cabinet.

The effect chain I use at the moment is:

Cry Baby Wah
Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-9
Boss Super Overdrive SO-1
Proco RAT
Boss GE-7 Equalizer
Boss Chorus
Boss Delay

The TS-9 is always on - it gives me "The Who" type clean/crunch sound. The Super-Overdrive I add to get a 70s Rock Sound, and the Ratt I switch on for a Mesa Boogie Type 80s Metal sound.

The GE-7 only boosts a bit the mids and the volume to be switched on for solos (that way I keep the character of the pre selected overdrive tone with the pedals). Delay, Chorus and Wah are only for certain effect parts.

I change me sutup every once in a while. The Blues Driver was intendet to replace the Tube Screamer and the Super Overdrive, when I saw Nazareth current guitarist Jimmy Murrison using two Blues Drivers in his bord live - but was so disappointed when I got mine. I sold one of the two I bought and went back to my "old" sutup.

3 knobs, Level, Tone, Gain. All are very sensitive which makes it easy to get exactly what you want. Manual has many setting you can use from Boss but you should just play with the 3 knobs and figure out what you like the best. Also has the useful 9v entry on back which i use.

Epiphone Les Paul Standard - Boss DS-1 - Ibanez TS9 - Boss SD-1 - Boss BD-2 - Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (tube 1x12). The Blues Driver is very quiet on both my clean and drive channels on my amp. I like to keep the tone at 10 o clock or below. When it goes higher, it just seems to sound nasally and very trebly. The gain sounds great wherever you put it, just dial in which sound you're looking for. I've compared it with the tube screamer and here's what i've found:

Blues Driver can get louder and can get cleaner and dirtier both than the TS9.

Because of this, the BD-2 is very versatile. Because it can get a little bit cleaner than the TS9, I like to use it on the clean channel of my amp to add a hint of overdrive. However, it can be used too push my drive channel harder and sounds great doing that as well. I like to boost the BD-2 with either the SD-1 or the drive channel on amp for solos.

Extremely reliable, never hard one problem with it. Since Boss offers a 5 year warranty, you can trust that their pedals will last much longer than this and will be very reliable.

I like to play classic rock. The pedal really sounds great for this style of music. I've been playing for 3 years. I stolen, I would buy another one. This is my most versatile overdrive pedal that I own. I love how clean and dirty the pedal can get. Has unique sound simlilar to TS9 but I like it's own character as well. Doesn't need anything else on the pedal, very simple but sounds great. Very glad I bought this.

It's an overdrive with three knobs--you can't get much simpler. Still, it's easy to get some truly nasty, shrill sounds out of it if you don't know what you're doing. Never got a manual and never needed it.

It's not perfect, but it is one hell of a pedal. Best overdrive/distortion box I've ever tried. It isn't transparent: it will color your tone with a raspy cranked tweed Fender/old Marshall sort of vibe, but it's a nice sound to my ears. Also, it has good bass and mid response, but somehow it sounds "hollow" to my ears. Like the sound takes up a wide spectrum and cuts through, but it doesn't have a lot of "oomph" or sustain to it--this pedal doesn't compress your sound much at all. That's why I mostly use it for rhythm work.

The key to this whole pedal is to be careful with the knobs. There is a WIDE range of gain to be had here, and the tone knob makes it REALLY trebly when turned up. I like keeping the volume set pretty high, the gain somewhere below 3 o'clock, and keeping the tone below 12. There a surprising number of crisp, gritty sounds to be found there.

You CAN do Metal with it. It just depends on what you mean by metal. It does AC/DC and 70s metal well, and I've found that for, say, Danzig and other bluesy metal, it also excels. Just keep the tone knob set fairly low, because it is one trebly MFer, and turn the volume knob up to keep the sound crisp. I wouldn't try to get SOAD, Hatebreed, or any of the bottom heavy stuff out of it, though.

For blues, it's great at a crisp, biting, '50s and '60s blues tone. For earlier stuff, which often sounded pretty muddy, you'd be better off with just a small amp cranked up loud, with no effects at all. For a more modern "blues" sound (and by this, most people mean SRV, Led Zep, and other blues rockers) it does a pretty good job, too.

I think this pedal was really designed to get you from a range from, say, Albert Collins up through Aerosmith, and that's what it does. Great gritty sounds there, and it can do some honky tonk stuff as well.

For people who want a crystal clear Pink Floydish space-rock tone, you'll be disappointed. Same goes for jazzbos.

Never had a problem. Boss is known for making indestructable pedals and this looks like one of 'em. But then I can't afford to abuse my gear.

Never dealt with 'em.

Lately I've been playing a sort of spaced out blues punk type of thing and it works great for rythmn, though I prefer a cleaner sound for leads. It's a great, great pedal with a lot of versatility, and if you play something with a blues-flavor to it, you'll love this. It's definitely not for everyone, but the tonal complexity and versatility has won it a wide following

Its easy to use mate.
I also find that less is more when dealing with electronics, take the old plexis for example......

I always play strats, they are the most responsive guitars on the market today. STILL.
I did think the bd-2 had a strange sorta eq to it, the high end is fizzy, really nice mids and bluesy bass.
I use a fender twin amp which may have added to the dynamics of this pedal also.
Overall i think it would be a fantastic pedal when run with the right combo of geeetar and amp,
Some does not suit so well

yep.